How many times can you steep tea leaves

How do you guys store your tea when you are re-brewing it? Is it safe to leave in a metal tea ball? Do you “rinse” it with the hot water before brewing it? I’ve used my tea maybe twice but I’m not sure about using it for as long as people say – will it go bad? Is mold an issue? :|

I leave mine in the infuser and just start again with more water when I get back to it. Typically I will trust a tea for a day or maybe two, but if I ever see or smell anything funky I toss it all and start over fresh. The only time I’ve seen mold on my tea was when the beau left a pot of green tea for a week. Even that wasn’t as bad as I expected. There was some scouring though!

Interesting conversation. Maybe the quality of tea I use is mediocre but I don’t think so (I will order from adagio, sometimes pick up something local at whole foods or at a specialized tea / coffee store.) My first infusion of my tea is usually by far the most full bodied and then the remaining are more as expected – more watery, less rich, perhaps a bit bitter. My favorites include genmai cha (good once, maybe a second time) and rose hips (herbal, I know, but that can be steeped again) and most green teas I have do not resteep well.

For storage, tea must be removed within a day or two. Put it in the fridge if you’re lazy to clean. But if you leave it out (and occasionally I’ve forgotten), mold will definitely be an issue. Was able to rinse out very well with hot water and some soft sponge scouring. Use vinegar if needed.

You know it’s pretty funny actually, all of my tea usually sits for the recommended steep time, obviously depending on the tea is somewhere between 2-4 minutes, then to the compost pile. I love that rich full taste especially in my Earl Grey. However, my question is… After I use the tea, for an example I’ll use my Russian Earl Grey, and it steeps for the 4 minutes, is it really going to save that great flavor for another pot tomorrow?? I expect it to be lighter and more watery. Is this more geared toward oolongs and Pu erh?? Still wrapping my mind around it. I know understand the concept , but never took full advantage of it, mainly because I was drinking Twinings and hadn’t moved full into higher quality teas. Any info is appreciated.

Resteeping black teas, especially flavored black teas, can be disappointing. In my experience the best results are had with strongly flavored blacks which are steeped at 1 minute, 2 minutes, and then 3 minutes finally.

The flavor is different each time, but not for every taste.

With flavored tea (Earl Grey, for example) most of the flavor leaches out in the first steeping, successive steeps taste mostly like the base of the tea, depending on steeping time and temperature.

But really, playing with all these variables is what makes tea so interesting!